It can be reasonably argued that apart from the decision on what type of yacht to buy, a yacht owner has one other very important decision to make; which flag to have her registered under. Choosing a flag is not an easy task as many considerations need to made i.e. the flag requirements, annual taxes,…

A Cayman Islands Discharge Book, (SDB) is a non-compulsory document recording seafarer sea service on a Cayman Islands ship. It is issued to seafarers by the Maritime Authority of the Cayman Islands (MACI). Sea service may also be recorded in separate documents containing a record of seafarers’ employment in accordance with Maritime Labour Convention Standard…

Law 4256/2014 on “Touristic Yachts and other provisions” abolished the requirement commercial pleasure yachts were previously under in order to hold a valid Greek charter license which was for any charter to start and end in Greece and instead replaced it with the obligation to register with a special online “Registry of Touristic Yachts and…

As per the Shipping Notice 02/2016 issued by the Maritime Authority of the Cayman Islands , pleasure yachts of less than 500GT are allowed to perform commercial charters of up to 120 days per year subject to the conditions set in the Shipping Notice by the relevant Authority. Yacht requirements to qualify for a Cayman Islands…

Directive 2013/53/EC of 20 November 2013 on recreational craft and personal watercraft repealed Directive 94/25/EC seeking to update the legislation covering the design and manufacture of motor and sailing yachts, in an attempt to ensure that by having the same standards in place, fair competition is created for these products in the EU market. The Directive sets…